Ambush at Keystone No. 1: Inside the Coalminers’ Great Gas Protest of 1974

Coalminers in Appalachia waged a 10-year movement of illegal walkouts, starting in the late 60s. Tens of thousands of miners repeatedly confronted authorities, courts, police, mine owners, the media, and their own top union officials. Most strikes involved individual mines and local grievances. But especially after 1974, strikes spread from mine to mine, state to state – challenging government and court repression, lasting for weeks. The leadership of these strikes was among the miners. This was one of greatest upsurges of working class struggle in modern U.S. history, yet it is virtually unknown.

This essay is a personal recollection of the first major strike that comrades of the Revolutionary Union participated in — shortly after we arrived in the coalfields. The strike erupted before we were widely known as communists and atheists. We were first learning the lay of the land. In the experiences of this strike, new perceptions collided with our own preconceptions.